2012 Ivy Bridge CPU’s

* * * * These CPU's have been replaced by the Intel Haswell processors * * * *

Intel have just released their latest CPU line-up badged Ivy Bridge, offering performance improvements over the previous Sandy Bridge generation these new processors now power all our Ultra and Extreme class of PC’s.

Performance Improvements

Ivy Bridge is Intel’s push to improve its mobile CPU offerings and they have been designed with low power scenarios in mind and to extend mobile device battery life.

Along with this they have also updated their line of desktop CPU’s to this new architecture and they do offer better performance than their Sandy Bridge counterparts.

To see benchmarks on the new CPU’s you can visit the excellent AnandTech article http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/6 – as you can see the new i7 3770K outperforms the Sandy Bridge i7 2600K in the vast majority of tests and holds its own against the 6-Core Sandy Bridge-E in many benchmarks.

For our own testing though we have seen the improvements however for anybody already running a Sandy Bridge setup then there is no point in upgrading as the performance gains do not warrant the cost of a new motherboard and CPU in our opinion.

Despite that it makes sense for us to migrate our Ultra and Extreme PC’s across to this new platform as there is a definite performance gain and we are able to hold our price structure in place so it’s a pretty obvious path to follow.

HD Graphics 4000

No update on the new Ivy Bridge CPU’s would be complete without mentioning the improved on-board graphics power.

They offer a major step up in performance over previous integrated graphics chips and make gaming without the need for a dedicated graphics card a reality for some.

For multi-screen scenarios though there is little benefit as to achieve the high number of monitor outputs required we are forced to head down the separate graphics card route.

The new Ivy Bridge motherboards have the capability of supporting three screens directly without the need for an extra graphics card, however the outputs are 1 VGA, 1 DVI-D and 1 HDMI which means it would be impossible to support 3 analogue (VGA) or 3 digital screens simultaneously. You would need to mix and match connection inputs between your screens which would leave you with comparatively different brightness, contrast and colour depths across your screens.

To achieve 3 or more screens of the same connection type then you will still require separate graphics cards.

To experience the power of a new Ivy Bridge CPU then please look at our Ultra and Extreme level PC specifications.

Written by Darren @ Multiple Monitors

Last Updated: May, 2012